


By Your Side

by mycopingmechanisms



Series: Kanej Kid [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Cuteness overload, Emotional Roller Coaster, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Parental fluff, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Sad Ending, Unplanned Pregnancy, preparental panic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29157645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycopingmechanisms/pseuds/mycopingmechanisms
Summary: “Kaz I-” Inej let out a sob. He was still holding her close. “I’m pregnant.”Kaz didn’t panic as Inej thought he would. He let go of her just a bit, so their eyes could meet. Inej thought he hadn’t heard her, so she said it again.“Are we- are we going to have a baby?” Kaz asked. Inej couldn’t believe the conversation they were having.“Yes,” she said. “Yes we are.” Kaz dried Inej’s tears, then held his hands on hers. He was starting to cry too, but he also smiled. “You- are you okay with it?”“I love you so much Inej.” He said. Inej started to cry. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, what is it?”“I was afraid you were going to leave or be scared-”Kaz kissed her. “I’m not going to leave your side, Inej. I wouldn’t do it for anything in the world. Okay?”Or: Inej finds out she’s pregnant, she and Kaz become excited with the idea of becoming parents and the months that follow her pregnancy.(Read notes please)
Relationships: Inej Ghafa & Nina Zenik, Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker & Jesper Fahey & Inej Ghafa & Matthias Helvar & Wylan Van Eck & Nina Zenik, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Series: Kanej Kid [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2159706
Comments: 12
Kudos: 42
Collections: Kaz and Inej Fanfics





	1. One Game They Didn't See Coming

**Author's Note:**

> So...I know how improbable this AU is, but the idea was too adorable for it to go to waste. For the sake of making sense: this AU is close to 10 years into the future, Kanej is comfortable with touch between each other, and my headcanon is that corporalki can tell when someone is pregnant :)  
> Enjoy!  
> -MCM :D  
> IMPORTANT PD: Trigger Warnings: Blood Loss, Fainting, (Spoiler) Natural Abortion

The walk upstairs to Kaz’s office shouldn’t have been as tiring as it was at that moment for Inej. She cursed under her breath. She couldn’t blame Kaz for wanting to work in his office. After being two months at sea, she also longed for a table that didn’t move while she was trying to write. Yet, she wondered why Kaz always preferred to work on the last floor. 

By the time she reached Kaz’s door her stomach started to growl. She mentally took note to buy something to eat in the bar downstairs. She would have to stay away from alcoholic drinks, she also thought. 

Inej knocked on Kaz’s door and walked in. Kaz was standing, giving his back to the door. His desk was a mess filled with papers. He turned around and smiled at Inej. “Hi,” he said, walking to her. 

“Hey, Kaz,” she said. They rested their foreheads together. 

“Is everything okay?” He asked her. 

_No. Yes. Maybe._ “Yes, why do you ask?”

“You just look tired. Your meeting with Nina went alright?”

“Everything went just fine.” _With a couple of surprises._

“Okay.” Kaz noticed Inej was tense, so he decided to change the subject. “We are all having dinner together at Wylan’s right?”

“Yeah, I think they are making fish.”

“Just what I wanted after two months sailing.”

Inej smiled. She didn’t care, she was just hungry. 

Nina and Inej had breakfast together almost every day when they were together in the same town. It was even better when it was in Ketterdam. Neither consider it truly home, but there was that familiar scent that made it work. 

Nina and Matthias had arrived that same dawn, a day after _The Wraith_ had. They stayed at the now called by them, Van Sunshine mansion. Due to the constant movement caused by the arrival of Nina and Matthias, Nina and Inej didn’t have the time to catch up in the mansion. They made up for lost time over some waffles. 

They sat together at some small restaurant Inej had heard about. “Thank Saints,” she said as their waffles arrived. “I’m starving.” She looked up to Nina. “What is it?”

“What?” Nina said innocently. 

“You’ve been looking at me funny since you arrived. What is it?”

“Nothing, really.”

“Come on! You can tell me, is my hair a mess or something?” Inej said mockingly. 

Nina shook her head. She let out a breath. “Inej, this might sound weird, but, when was your last period?” 

“What-”

“When did you have your last period?”

“A couple of months ago, I think. It’s normal at least for me, you know? Commanding a ship takes a lot of physical energy, so sometimes it is late.” Where was Nina going with this?

“I imagine it takes a lot of energy,” Nina took Inej’s hand, “But I don’t know if it needs extra blood vessels too.” Only then Inej caught her point.

Inej lay down in their bed. Night had fallen long ago, but only then, as she curled up next to Kaz, she felt like she could rest. Her body at least, her mind, however, wouldn’t stop bugging her. 

Before she could say the words aloud, Inej wanted to save this image in her mind. A younger form of herself would’ve never imagined it possible. The two of them in one bed, hugging each other, going to sleep at reasonable hours after a nice meal. 

She was scared. Would she ruin the moment with the news? A big part of her hoped it would make it better. 

“Is everything okay?” Kaz asked her. He must’ve noticed she was tense. 

“Yes, everything’s fine.” She answered lightly. 

“Inej, you can tell me. You reacted the same way earlier, you sure it’s nothing?” His voice was soft, comforting. 

Tears started to fall from Inej’s eyes. Saints knew how scared she was. Would Kaz take it the right way? She didn’t want to lose him. Not for this. They had fought so hard to be where they were. But keeping it a secret was not an option either.

“Kaz I-” she let out a sob. He was still holding her close. “I’m pregnant.”

Kaz didn’t jump scared as Inej thought he would. He let go of her just a bit, so their eyes could meet. Inej thought he hadn’t heard her, so she said it again. 

“Are we- are we going to have a baby?” Kaz asked. Inej couldn’t believe the conversation they were having. 

“Yes,” she said. “Yes we are.” Kaz dried Inej’s tears, then held his hands on hers. He was starting to cry too, but he also smiled. “You- are you okay with it?”

“I love you so much Inej.” He said. Inej started to cry. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, what is it?”

As afraid- I was afraid I would have to go through this alone.”

Kaz kissed her forehead gently. “I’m not going to leave your side, Inej. I wouldn’t do it for anything in the world. Okay?” Inej nodded and cuddled into his neck. 

They stayed there for what it seemed all night. Shocked and happy and afraid. Inej’s heart was easy, because they were all those things, but they were on it together. And she couldn’t ask for anything else. (Maybe Inej had to check out sleeping at reasonable hours from her picture, at least for that night.)

“I’M GOING TO BE AN AUNT! AGAIN!” Nina screamed when they let the news out over dinner. 

“Nina you already knew!” Inej said in between laughs. 

“Oh, Djel,” said Matthias. “A Wraith and Demjin junior, should we be scared?”

“Only if you cross our way,” said Kaz grinning. 

Jesper came back from the kitchen with towels for the glass he had dropped. “I can’t believe it. David is going to have a cousin!” He said, heart eyeing Wylan. 

“We’ll let him know tomorrow, it’s past his bedtime.” Wylan said. He went on congratulating Inej and Kaz. 

“That reminds me,” Inej said. “Can you guys like- help us out on this whole parenting thing?”

Jesper’s and Wylan’s eyes sparkled. They started talking about plans and when they would set parenting lessons. “We have 6 months to make you the best parents ever, after ourselves, of course.”

“Looks like those two had been waiting their whole lives to hear that,” Matthias commented to Nina. 

“Probably,” she answered. 

“Can I teach them how to shoot?” Asked Jesper.

“No guns near my kid,” said Inej defensively. “Besides, if anything, they’ll use knives.”

“Please don’t teach David how to shoot, dear,” said Wylan to his sharpshooter husband.

“So he can play with your chemistry set but can’t use guns? What kind of hypocrisy is this, sunshine?” Jesper said dramatically. 

“HE GOT NEAR MY CHEMISTRY SET?!”

The paranoia of the facts set in a few weeks later. Inej was sharpening one of her knives on the covered part of the Crow Club’s rooftop when Kaz walked up to her. His hair started to get wet in the fog that was forming in Ketterdam.

“We are going to be parents,” Kaz was saying, clearly trying to wrap his head around it. “How on Earth are we going to manage that?! Inej, I just had a meeting on how to steal an archive from one of the councilmen! I’ve been doing that since I was 15?! We entered the Ice Court at 17! I’ve been managing the Dregs since! We can’t have our child doing that!”

Inej wanted to laugh, but it came out as a nervous chuckle. She left her knives next to her. “Saints, I started to sail way too young. How did we never think this through?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Well, you are the brain here,” Inej accused him. She sighted, her hands rested over her belly. “Only one thing clear.”

“What?”

“They need a better childhood than us.”

Kaz’s eyes looked sad, but he nodded. He sat next to Inej on the border of the rooftop and rested his hand on hers. “Definitely,” he paused. “We may not be heroes, but we will be great parents, I promise.”

Inej smiled. “I promise, too.” 

Rain started to pour over Ketterdam by the time they walked back inside the club. 

They were walking through fifth harbor early in the morning when Inej’s nose started to bleed. Kaz took a napkin from his pocket and helped her clean up. “They warned us this could happen,” he said.

“Yeah, that doesn’t make it any less bearable,” answered Inej. 

Once the blood stopped pouring out, Kaz put on back his gloves. He never left them if they were going out. During the last years, he had grown out of his trauma, mostly around his most trusted friends, and of course Inej. In the streets he rather wore them, not only they felt comfortable, but they also kept the myths and rumors around. And sometimes the idea that he might be part demon played in his favor.

They resume their walk, taking in the sites of the harbor and the comings and goings of the ships. 

“We need to talk about something,” said Kaz. 

“What is it?” 

“We can’t keep living on sea,” at the look Inej shot him, he kept going. “I mean, we need to have a stable household. Sure, right now we stay with Jesper and Wylan, or at the Slat, but our kid is going to need their own room. And a calm life. We both know a life on the move isn’t exactly great when you are young,” the last sentence came out as a whisper.

“Yeah,” Inej said after a while. “We could look for a house here in Ketterdam, maybe stop sailing for a couple of years?” Inej heart ached at the thought. The thought of leaving her crew, even for a short time, felt like leaving a huge part of herself. But it was true, she knew better than anyone that a life at sea wasn’t easy. “At least until he’s grown up. We can still manage the Dregs and my crew from land. We do from time to time.”

“That could work. Also, ‘he’?” Kaz asked intrigued. 

Inej smiled. “I have a hunch.”

Kaz smiled too. Any water in his eyes was just the sea slat getting into his eyes, not tears. “This is one game I didn’t see coming.”

Inej took his hands. Kaz didn’t flinch at the gesture. He hadn’t flinched in a really long time. “Well, let’s make the odds in our favor.” 

A month later Inej and Kaz opened the door to their new house. They settled on a small, two-story house in the Financial District. It was close enough to the Van Sunshine mansions, the Crow Club, and Slat in case of any emergency. It also checked out on all the background and security checks they had run on the previous owner of the house. 

“Why does it have stairs?” Inej complained. 

“We can fix the things upstairs if you want,” offered Nina, volunteering Jesper. 

“No, no it’s fine, my feet and back just hurt.”

“On a scale from 1 to 10 how bad?” Jesper asked. 

“I don’t know, 6.5?”

“Not so bad,” he said. “The following months should be worse.”  
“How comforting, Jes.” 

“Coming though!, make space!” Said Matthias. He and Kaz were moving the new sofa to the living room. Wylan came behind carrying a few seats. 

“Where does this go?” He asked Inej. 

“Oh, leave one here, I’ll take it to Kaz’s office. Leave the other one in the room to the right of ours.”

“Your office, got it.” 

As much as they grew fond of the other’s company, Kaz and Inej still needed their own space to work. 

That day they finished moving all the heavy furniture into the house. The house was already painted and fixed. The only room they painted themselves was the baby’s one, in sky blue. They also painted the silhouette of a tree, and some crows flying by. They left the rest and hired people to do it. 

They all sat together at the dinner table. Nina had brought take out food and non-alcoholic drinks for them. Before eating, Wylan stood up with his cup. “Let us all raise our glasses to Inej and Kaz.”

“To Inej and Kaz,” everyone repeated. 

“To Ineg and Kath,” said David from his chair. The poor toddler was fighting to stay awake. 

“No mourners,” added Jesper.

“No funerals,” added everyone.

“Oh!” Gasped Inej. Everyone turned to her.

“What is it?”

“Everything okay?”

“Do you need anything?”

“Are you giving birth?”

“She’s only 4 months pregnant, Matthias, she is not giving birth now.”

“I’m okay, I am,” Inej explained, and she giggled. “It’s just- the baby just kicked.”

“Ghezen!”

“Djel!”

“Saints!”

Inej took Kaz’s hand. This was really happening. 

Kaz woke up in the middle of the night. They have been living in their house for about a month. It felt comfortable enough to call it home. They were each other's home, if they were honest. The house was just a physical description for it. 

Kaz turned around, but Inej wasn’t there. Panic raised inside him. He jumped off the bed and went outside. The light of the baby’s room was on. Kaz let out a relief breath. Inej was sitting in the middle of the room, where they had put a rug. 

Inej turned around to see him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he sat behind her and hugged her. “Can’t sleep?”

“Not really.”

They stood in silence. Kaz scanned the room. They did a pretty good job with it. The crib was positioned so that it would get the soft morning sun, and not the insufferable afternoon one. Hanging above it were six wooden crows. There was a map of Ketterdam next to a small box full of plushies. On the other side, there was a global map. “One day, when he’s old enough,” Inej had said as she pasted the map when they started decorating, “we’ll travel through the world together.” 

Inej rested her head on Kaz’s shoulder. “We haven’t talked names yet,” Inej said. 

“Right, we haven’t.”

“Any ideas?”

“Maybe- no.” Kaz stopped himself. Did he really want to name his kid that?

“What?” She looked at him. “You’re thinking of your brother, aren’t you?”

Kaz sighted. “Yes.”

“You’ve never told me his name.”

He let out a breath. “Jordie. His name was Jordie.” He had told Inej everything, yet never how he was named.

“‘Jordie’”, Inej repeated. “It’s a nice name.” Just then the baby kicked. They both felt it. “I think he thinks it too.”

Kaz smiled. “Yeah, he seems to like it. Right Jordie?”

A little late, but the baby kicked. 

“We have a name,” said Inej, smiling. If eleven years ago someone would’ve told her that this would be her future, she would not have believed it. A life next to a Kaz without gloves, and a fleet of slave freeing ships, and now a family. It seemed taken out of a fairy tale. But as she was proven day after day, sometimes miracles could happen.

And when you most need them, miracles left you alone at the mercy of the world. 

Once again they were at Wylan’s, this time in the music room. Nina was singing off-key with Jesper when Inej started to bleed. “Guys-” she said.

“Djel, Inej are you okay?!” Matthias was the first to react. Inej’s pants were starting to soak in blood.

Kaz quickly reached out for her hand. Inej let out a scream in pain. 

“We need to get her to a hospital,” Nina said in panic. “She’s giving birth.”

“But she’s only 6 months in!”

“Not the time to show you did your homework, Matthias!”

“Someone get me some damn towels!” Nina screamed. Wylan rushed out of the room. 

Inej was starting to cry badly. “It’s okay, we’re here,” Kaz was saying to her. “Stay strong, Inej.”

“Saints, she has to give birth here, we can’t take her to a hospital like this,” Nina had taken on the job of leading everyone, her hands covered in blood. Wylan came back with towels, Jesper got some water and got David to remain in his room. Matthias was aiding Nina in the procedure. 

Inej passed out as soon as the baby came out, too much blood loss. “He’s not breathing! Guys he’s not breathing!” Nina was starting to cry. “I can’t find a pulse! Inej’s is going down!”  
“Do something!” Yelled Kaz. “You are a corporalki aren’t you!?”

If they hadn’t been scared before, they were now. No one remembered the last time they had seen Kaz cry this way, desperately. 

At last, they got to a hospital. Kaz ran right away to Inej’s room. The baby was taken into intense care. The others were left in the dark. Not knowing if either would make it out alive. Inej had lost too much blood. 

Wylan held Jesper’s hand tightly, Nina hugged Matthias. 

Not knowing what was going on was worse than anything. That uncertainty. They all had felt it before, on the Ice Court, Kuwei’s auction, when Nina and Matthias made their way to Fjerda for the first time, when Wylan and Jesper were just starting the papers to adopt David. That experience they had with uncertainty didn’t make a new one any easier. 

Inside the room Kaz was holding Inej’s hand as if his life depended on it. “Please, not just yet, Inej,” he whispered. “Stay with me. Never stop fighting, right? That’s what we do. Don’t stop fighting just yet. Please, love, stay here.” 

A nurse let the group know that the premature birth had left Inej mortally weakened, but she would eventually recover, or so they hoped. “You hope?! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Jesper yelled at the nurse. Nina was cursing almost inaudible, only Matthias could listen to her.

“Jes, calm down,” Wylan tried to help, but his anxiety wasn’t helping.

“One of our best friends could be dying! And you are not telling us anything!”

After what seemed like years, Inej woke up. She saw her bed surrounded by her friends. She saw her belly flat. The others left to give them privacy. 

“Kaz?” Her voice was weak and faint and cracking. “Kaz what happened?” She saw the tears in his eyes and he shook his head _no_. Inej searched for his hand and held it. “I'm sorry.” She started to cry.

Kaz had silent tears falling from him. “It's okay. Don't apologize.” 

“I'm so sorry,” Inej kept repeating between sobs. “This is my fault.” 

“It's not,” Kaz would answer, also crying. “I love you, Inej. I'm still by your side, and always will be.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yee, sorry (not sorry) for the ending  
> While this *is* the official ending for the fic, I'm adding an extra ending in the future for everyone that wants to make it angst with a fluffy ending  
> ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU TheFriendlyNeighborhoodPancake (iRubyReader) IN HELPING EDIT THE FIC  
> Hope you liked it!  
> -MCM :D  
> Editor's note: She's not sorry at all, don't believe her lies... -TheFriendlyNeighborhoodPancake


	2. Beating the Game

“Out of all the enemies I thought we would have,” Inej said when they were back at their house, “I never imagine my body would be one of them.” Tears were slowly forming on her eyes. They were sitting together on the couch on the first floor. Only their hands touching each other. 

“Hey,” had said Kaz, “we are still a family, Inej, just you and I.” He reached out to hug her. She let him hug her, but didn’t hug him back. “Knives drawn, pistols blazing. Right?”

Tears were falling from her eyes once more, but she nodded. “It’s weird. I still wanted to be a mom. Even if we hadn’t planned to, I wanted us to be parents.”

Kaz thought it through. He had also wanted to be a dad. Where had that come from? 

_ Three Years and a half later _

They stood once again in the hospital room. Tears were falling once more, only this time they were of happiness. 

Three years ago Kaz and Inej had decided they would beat the odds once more. They tried to have kids, failing most of the time. “We could adopt,” offered Kaz.

“Kaz,” Inej said, her voice sounded almost hopeless, “you know I love you, but no one in this forsaken city with a tiny bit of brain would let us adopt.”

Kaz sighed, “That’s true.”

When the Crows walked into the room they were faced with the happiest Inej and Kaz they had ever seen. (When was the last time they had seen them happy?, if they were being honest. Even when Inej was pregnant they had taken it cautiously. Never getting too excited.) Inej looked at Kaz, who was sitting next to her, with heart eyes. She was clearly tired, as her eye bags showed, and yet her smile was as bright as ever. Kaz's cheeks were marked with tear tracks where tears had fallen. He was also smiling, a genuine smile, not a scheming one. That was a view no one would get used to in a long time. In his arms he held their newborn. 

“Everyone,” said Inej, “meet Mirek Ghafa-Brekker.”

“Aw,” whispered Wylan, so as not to wake the baby up, “he’s adorable you guys.”

“Never thought I would say that about a mini-Kaz, but agreed,” said Matthias. 

“I’m slicing your throat,” threatened Kaz, “our baby is, in fact, adorable.”

7-year-old David was allowed to sit in their bed to see his baby cousin. “He looks like aunt Inej.”

“Yes he does, but he has uncle Kaz’s eyes though,” said Jesper to his son. To the group he said: “How much do I bet-”

“No bets,” everyone said at the same time. 

“Okay, okay, but Mirek is totally going to copy Kaz’s scheming face.”

“I’m already afraid of this family,” Matthias shivered. 

Nina looked at Inej. “What is it?” Inej asked. 

“Nothing,” Nina smiled, “your hair is just a mess.”

Inej hid her face in embarrassment on Kaz’s shoulder. If she was being honest, she didn’t care at all. She was there, with all her family. Nina, Jesper, Wylan, David, Matthias. Most importantly, the two boys next to her, whom she would never stop fighting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short little sweet happy ending  
> I hope you all liked the fic!   
> -MCM :D  
> PD: would anyone be interested in a fic of them raising Mirek?


End file.
